ARD and ZDF will soon show less football? The Grimme chief demands a waiver

Public broadcasters frequently spend money on often expensive sports rights. In Chief Grimme’s opinion, this must and will change.

After a long struggle, the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand was offered to ARD and ZDF. Qatar’s Men’s World Cup matches were also broadcast almost entirely through public broadcasters. ÖRR paid €214 million for the broadcast rights. But will this also be the case in the future?

Not if Grimme boss Frauke Gerlach has his way. The lawyer is the director of a non-profit research and service institution concerned with the field of “media and communication.”

In an interview with the newspaper Neue Ruhr Zeitung, she called on state broadcasters ARD and ZDF to refrain from buying sports rights in the future. Specifically, I asked her to stop participating in the bidding contest.

“The argument has always been: we need acceptance, and football brings people together. But that’s something public broadcasters can’t afford and won’t tolerate anymore. I want good, high-quality entertainment. This is for example ‘which won the Grimme Award’ “But not only that. Satirical shows and talk shows are also important, but it should not get out of hand that every political question is treated in a satirical way or in conversation,” was the 59-year-old’s answer to a similar question.

Next year’s European domestic championships will also be broadcast on ARD and ZDF. However, ARD and ZDF share the rights with MagentaTV and RTL. The sublicensing model has become more popular in recent years as a way to recoup expensive rights costs. When contacted by t-online, ARD and ZDF did not want to comment on Gerlach’s statements.

However, the fact that the German national team’s international matches are no longer held exclusively at ÖRR will emerge again in the coming days. For example, the DFB match with Japan on Saturday will be shown on RTL, and the duel with France on Tuesday will be shown on ARD.